By Antonio D. French
Filed Friday, January 18, 2008 at 2:19 PM
Following the sudden resignation of Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman as attorney and clerk for the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, in a closed session this morning, the board quickly hired a member of the Aldermanic President to fill the position. Labels: Board_of_Aldermen
According to documents obtained by PubDef through a "Sunshine Law" request, Dave Sweeney, looks to be getting a $22,000 pay raise — from $73,545.94 per year to Coleman's salary of $96,014.10 annually. That is, unless the Board voted to change the salary, which we have not heard yet.
Here's Coleman's resignation letter, dated January 11, and also obtained via a "Sunshine" request. In it, she writes that her resignation would be effective February 10.
Coleman was the first African-American to hold that position. She was the compromise candidate and was voted on unanimously after the Board was bitterly divided, mostly along racial lines, between two other candidates, Hope Whitehead, the former head of the state Liquor Control Division, who was black, and Annette Kolis Mandel, a former mayor of Creve Coeur, who was white and an employee of Richard Callow's Public Eye PR firm.
Coleman lasted less than six months.
Here's video from the tumultuous meeting last year when the board first tried to select a new attorney.
16 Comments:
Why do you need "Sunshine Law" requests for information from your own client?
1/18/2008 3:47 PM
Last I checked the hiring of the board attorney was not a racial thing. Good luck Ant...not everything is racial. I know you wish EVERYONE was racist like you but even the BOA is above you.
Dave is smart and a hard worker. I think the BOA made a good choice and he will work hard for them.
Good luck Mr. Sweeney.
1/18/2008 4:18 PM
I think he had to sunshine request because Reed fired him a while ago. Maybe Mr. French isn't such a great "political consultant" as he likes to tell us he is.
1/18/2008 4:23 PM
Maybe he had to use the Sunshine Law because he is a reporter and wanted the actual facts????
If you all hate Antonio so much why spend your time here at PubDef?
1/18/2008 4:52 PM
Word on the street is that Reed kicked Antonio to the curb because Antonio has pissed too many people off in this town with his arrogance.
1/18/2008 6:07 PM
Oooooh...pissing off the Callows and Hamiltons of the world. Do they own the information business in around here?
1/18/2008 6:20 PM
Reed has surrounded himself with amateurs. Losing the first battle to get his pick selected as the attorney was embarrassing. But having this "first black attorney" replaced after 6 months is even more embarrassing! One-Term Reed!
1/18/2008 6:52 PM
Two things:
1. The two times I have called Reed's office I have gotten what I needed. I don't know about the amateur part, they seemed young but I was impressed. I guess they should be old political hacks to be considered non-amateurs?
2. "getting a $26,000 pay raise"
$96,014.10 - $73,545.94 = $22468.16
Apparently simple math shouldn't get in the way of a story.
1/18/2008 7:23 PM
Well, excuuuuse me. A $22,000 pay raise then. Picky, picky.
Either way, a 30% pay raise is still pretty nice.
Thanks for playing copy editor.
1/18/2008 7:30 PM
WTF Classic!
These documents probably need a Sunshine Request due to a recently passed ordinance.
"Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of particular employees by the City when personal information about the employee is discussed or recorded."
Given the letter says they discussed the reason she quit, and lists a reason, perhaps that's why it is a closed record?
Yet I may be wrong since this does not enumerate "quit." Who knows.
1/18/2008 10:48 PM
Strong, assertive and courageous black men are often defined by those who cannot control them - As Arrogant; be it a white male, he would be described as assertive in his pursuit of truth.
Keep up the good work Antonio...
1/19/2008 11:38 AM
john q. public,you broke it down as to why these white boys are always hating on Antonio! Its in their belief of white supremacy that allows their vitrolic hate and disdain of anyone not white!
1/19/2008 1:32 PM
This whole thread is too funny. Antonio obviously pimps people who pay him and when they stop paying him, he tries to find dirt on them. That's the reason the whole blogger/campaign worker thing doesn't work. You aren't really either of them and ultimately just piss people off. Let's see how long Hubbard keeps him around.
1/19/2008 1:56 PM
I heard that the two ladies at the top of the staff are the problem. Get rid of the career do-nothings at City Hall, and qualified people like Denise will stay!
1/20/2008 10:41 AM
Everyone with remote knowledge of this situation knew that whomever got picked for the position would be gone within 6 months. That is why the intelligent candidates dropped out of the running. Antonio, please dig deeper into stories. You constantly report stories at their surface -- i.e. the story on Sherman George and now this. People in City Hall knew that the Board's attorney would go 6 months and then be replaced. That was the intention from the beginning -- although not publicly spoken.
1/20/2008 12:22 PM
You're full of shit. This was not a temporary position. Coleman was an embarrassment. Reed is an embarrassment. His drug using staff is an embarrassment. The entire Board of Aldermen is an embarrassment!
1/21/2008 8:36 AM
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